Saint Lucia Kings won their third match on the trot as they defeated the Trinbago Knight Riders by one run in a close match on Sunday in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2022. With this win, the Kings ended Trinbago Knight Riders’ 10-match winning streak at home.
Playing at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinbago, Johnson Charles continued his scintillating form for the Kings with an innings-defining 54. David Wiese, whose exploits with both bat and ball have been key for the Kings, scored a quick-fire 33 at the death to give the Kings a fighting total of 147 on a difficult pitch.
Roston Chase’s three wickets in the powerplay gave a big platform for the Kings, which they duly capitalised on. The bowling attack kept the Knight Riders’ batters in check, and despite a late flurry from Andre Russell, the Kings came out as deserved winners.
Batting first, Saint Lucia Kings lost the wicket of talisman and skipper Faf du Plessis early. Niroshan Dickwella and Johnson Charles then took on the bowling attack, and the Kings finished at 51/1 in the powerplay.
The duo then took the Kings’ innings forward and built a solid foundation with a partnership of 59 runs until Dickwella departed in the tenth over for 21.
Johnson Charles, who is in red-hot form reached his back-to-back half-century in the 12th over. Charles’ fourth fifty of the tournament helped him reclaim the title of the highest run scorer of CPL 2022, going past the 300 total runs scored mark.
Charles eventually lost his wicket to Ravi Rampaul, nicking the ball off his bat onto the stumps for 54. His innings consisted of five fours and three sixes.
By the time the death overs arrived, the Kings’ were well placed for a royal finish at 106/4, despite losing Roston Chase. Thanks to David Wiese’s blitz of 33 runs in 14 balls, the Kings’ finished at 147/6.
The Kings’ defense of the total got off to a sensational start as Roston Chase clattered Leonardo Julien’s stumps in the second over. Chase then went on to dismiss Colin Munro and Nicholas Pooran in his next over.
Thanks to Chase’s exploits, the Kings had the Knight Riders at 45/3 at the end of the powerplay. The Knight Riders’ captain Kieron Pollard rebuilt their innings with the help of Tim Seifert, and had the chase in balance at the halfway point.
Came in the tournament’s joint highest wicket-taker, Alzarri Joseph. The pacer got the dangerous Kieron Pollard with a wicket-taking maiden, moving onto the top of the wicket-taking list on his own once again.
With the game still in the balance, Roshon Primus picked up the wicket of the set Tim Seifert in the 15th over. Joseph then got the wicket of the struggling Akeal Hosein in the 17th over.
With 30 runs required in the last two overs for the Knight Riders, Alzarri Joseph and Roshon Primus held the fort as the Kings won by a solitary run despite Andre Russell scoring 16 runs in the last three balls of the match.
Brief Scores: Saint Lucia Kings 147/6 (Johnson Charles 54, Ravi Rampaul 2/10) beat Trinbago Knight Riders 146/7 (Tim Seifert 44, Roston Chase 3/17) by one run.
